Only I can make Konoha Village great again.

The Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Demon is dreaming.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

The calm water surface was stirred up by huge waves, which in an instant turned into towering, surging waves.

Like a whale sucking up water, it whipped up a column of water that surged upwards, creating waves tens of meters high. The roar of the tide swept across the battlefield, and after the mighty tide washed everything away, the battlefield finally returned to calm.

Suigetsu Hozuki, his face grim, looked down at the battlefield and suddenly burst into triumphant laughter.

He saw Orochimaru's corpse, Yamanaka Hatsukyu's corpse, and the corpse of that terrifying green-skinned Konoha genin.

As for those three ordinary Konoha genin, they had already been torn apart by the huge waves and disappeared without a trace.

"Hahaha, I'm the strongest!"

"I killed Orochimaru, I killed that green-skinned monster, I am a true Kage-level ninja!"

"Yagura the tachibana!"

"Fourth Mizukage, you just wait, I'm coming back to take your life!"

"I will be the hero who saves Kirigakure, the hero who ends the Bloodstained Mist Village policy, the greatest Fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure!"

Suigetsu Hozuki flew up and returned to the Land of Waves, where he met the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, whom he had always feared, and bravely challenged him.

Yagura Karatachi is really strong; his various water-style ninjutsu are ridiculously powerful.

The Water Mirror Technique was beyond the Pufferfish Demon's imagination; it could create a mirror image exactly like him, and they fought each other to a standstill.

But Suigetsu Hozuki was stronger. He shattered his own mirror image as if by divine intervention, defeated the tailed beast-transformed Yagura Karatachi, and even withstood a tailed beast ball with his water jutsu.

That's a Tailed Beast Ball!

He actually withstood it using ninjutsu!

Suigetsu Hozuki never realized how powerful he was.

He no longer wants to be the Fifth Mizukage; he wants to conquer the entire ninja world and become the only Kage in the ninja world!

[Tsk, your desires are surging way too much, I can barely hold on.]

"Who?" the pufferfish demon asked in surprise. "Who's speaking?"

[Fine, this is your last independent will, your final consciousness before death. I'll allow you to know how you died.]

Thank me.

The next second, Suigetsu Hozuki realized that his soul had been artificially cut into fragments, which were attached to different desires and thoughts.

A single thought will only unleash desires, quickly exhausting the soul's primal power, ultimately causing that last vestige of soul and thought to return to silence.

The annihilation of a single soul is not much of a problem, but the annihilation of thousands upon thousands of souls is a serious matter.

The pain truly comes from the soul; no matter what methods Shan Zhongchu Jiu uses, the victims will be awakened by the excruciating pain.

At this point, a normal person would still have many thoughts, and it would take at least a few minutes to kill the remaining soul, which is the biggest challenge in turning a ninja into a living puppet.

Because it is a struggle of human beings' instincts as biological beings, the difficulty is only related to the strength of one's will, and has nothing to do with the strength of the ninja.

Once the ninja breaks free beforehand, their mind will quickly return to normal, and the damage to their soul will slowly heal.

That's why Yamanaka Hatsukyu is so fond of Root ninjas.

A mature Root ninja's soul is already riddled with holes, and little of his will remains, while his defenses are practically nonexistent.

When facing Root ninjas, Yamanaka Hatsukyu only needs to forcefully intervene, disrupt, divide, and eliminate them; the entire sequence of actions will take no more than three seconds.

Even when Root ninjas feel pain in their souls, their bodies do not instinctively resist.

They were like puppets trained by Danzo Shimura, waiting for the favor of Master Hatsukyu in the mountains.

Aside from Root ninjas, Yamanaka Hatsukyu's success rate against other enemies was frighteningly low; he had never attempted to turn enemies into living puppets in actual combat.

But today, seeing an opportunity to change his fate, he suddenly had a stroke of inspiration and decided to target the Water Spinach Fugu Demon.

And it worked!

Shan Zhongchu Jiu truly realized that he had become stronger.

Two wars, four battles, and hundreds of smaller engagements—he left not just an impression on the Konoha ninja, but an indelible miracle.

Miracles are always the breeding ground for faith.

After repeatedly experiencing the miracle of overwhelming victory, complete victory, and zero casualties in battle, the four thousand northern ninjas compared the casualties under Orochimaru's excellent command.

They then followed Yamanaka Chujiu across six thousand miles, traversing four kingdoms, breaking through the Hidden Cloud Village, annihilating the allied forces, forcing the Fourth Raikage, Daito, to admit defeat and sign a surrender treaty, thus completely ending the war with the Hidden Cloud Village.

When they returned to Konoha, they were welcomed as heroes by the entire village. Although they shouted "Long live Lord Orochimaru," they secretly admired and believed in Yamanaka Hatsukyu.

Faith needs no further explanation.

So when Yamanaka Hatsukyu wanted to select 800 ninjas, the response he received was that all 4,000 ninjas from the northern front volunteered, and not a single Konoha ninja was willing to give up the opportunity to follow him.

In the face of faith, what does fatigue matter? Even beloved family members have to take a backseat.

Yamanaka Hatsukyu himself was startled and could only suggest a contest to select the eight hundred most elite ninja.

In reality, he was manipulating the battle from the shadows, making sure that the ninjas who met the criteria won.

In other words, those with no ties or obligations are given priority, those with families but no elderly parents or children are second, those with parents are third, those with children cannot go, and ninjas with burdens both above and below must stay.

His good intentions were noticed by the Konoha ninjas, who were moved and their faith became even stronger.

Yamanaka Hatsukyu's faith wasn't limited to the northern front; the Konoha ninjas on the eastern front also worshipped him.

Their faith is even more intense!

Compared to the northern front, the defeats on the eastern front were even more frustrating and tragic, and were continuous.

In a desperate situation where everyone was about to die in battle, Orochimaru and Yamanaka Hatsukyu arrived with reinforcements and saved their lives.

Later, under the command of Yamanaka Chukyu, they completely washed away the shadow of defeat in the ambush.

This stark contrast further highlights Yamanaka Hatsukyu's art of command, which immediately won over the remaining Konoha ninja on the eastern front.

Of the more than 1,700 survivors, at least 500 became his followers.

With the support of such immense faith, Yamanaka Hatsukyu's ninja strength was greatly boosted, leaping forward and truly placing him among the ranks of Jonin.

Relying on the soul combat power of the Heart Severing Realm, he soared to new heights.

He could control the thoughts of the four ninja swordsmen at a glance, and stir up their emotions as soon as he made a move. After the battle started, he instantly suppressed Suigetsu Hozuki's senses to within three feet, and almost beheaded him with the simplest Wind Release: Wind Blade.

Seeing the victory that was almost within his grasp, Yamanaka Chuju realized that he had become stronger, much stronger.

So, Yamanaka Chujiu had a sudden inspiration and launched a full-scale attack on Suigetsu Hobutsuki, intending to make him his first real living puppet.

And then he succeeded.